Oregon Team Field Lamborghini Trio
For the third consecutive year, Oregon Team will represent Lamborghini in the International GT Open.
The Italian squad, directed by Jerry Canevisio and Piergiorgio Testa expands in 2024 to three Huracan GT3 Evo2, with the clear objective to fight for the title. Oregon won the Drivers title in 2022, with Leo Pulcini-Benji Hites, while last year it scored four race wins and 7 poles.
Car #63 will be entrusted to Leonardo Pulcini and Rolf Ineichen. The 26-ar old Italian is back to the series where he was crowned in 2022, teaming up with the Swiss veteran who will be debuting in the GT Open but has many successes under his belt, including two GTD wins at the Daytona 24 Hours and one at the Sebring 12 Hours.
In car #19 two young guns, Marzio Moretti (22) and Artem Petrov (24) join from the Lamborghini Super Trofeo and Italian GT Championship, respectively.
In the third car factory driver Jordan Pepper, a winner of one GT Open race in his only appearance in the series in 2021, will team up with Italy’s ex DTM racer Alessio Deledda.
And Three GetSpeed Performance AMGs Too
Getspeed Performance returns to a happy hunting ground in the GT Open where the German squad has scored three overall race wins on top of several class wins and championships in their Meredes AMGs
In 2024 the team will field three full-season entries.
Kiki San Nana and team owner Adam Osieka, the Am runner-ups in 2022, return for a third campaign together in car #786.
In car #9, US young gun Anthony Bartone, who made his debut in the series at the Red Bull Ring last year, will be in the Pro category together with Mercedes-AMG river Fabian Schiller.
And in car #6, running in Pro-Am, young gun Aaron Walker, who made his series debut last year, and the 2016 GT Open champion Valentin Pierburg will team up to fight for the championship.
The team also plan additional race-by-race entries at selected events.
Team owner Adam Osieka: “Our affinity for the GT Open has only grown stronger over the years, and 2024 marks another significant leap forward for us. We’re thrilled to extend the invitation to our customers, providing them with the chance to compete in a fiercely competitive yet welcoming environment. Our ultimate goal is to achieve outstanding results across all classes, and we’re committed to making that happen.”
24 Cars At Barcelona for the Winter Test
24 GT3 cars were initially entered at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona on Tuesday and Wednesday for the two-day Winter Test for the International GT Open.
A total of eight hours track time was available ahead of a 2024 season that looks set to welcome significantly more than 30 entries.
Entered for the test were:
- Eastalent Racing (1 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II)
- Olimp Racing (1 Ferrari 296 and 1 Audi R8 LMS)
- Il Barone Rampante (1 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo)
- Car Collection Motorsport (2 Porsche 911 GT3 R)
- Good Speed Racing Team (1 Mercedes AMG GT3)
- AF Corse (3 Ferrari 296 GT3)
- Greystone GT (2 McLaren 720S GT3 and 1 Lamborghini GT3 Evo [non-GT Open car])
- Pellin Racing (1 Ferrari 488 GT3)
- Oregon Team (3 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2)
- GetSpeed Performance (3 Mercedes AMG GT3)
- Team Motopark (3 Mercedes AMG GT3)
- ISR Racing (1 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II)
- SVC (1 Mercedes AMG GT3)
In reality, it would be 22 cars on track with the SVC AMG a non-arrival and the Pellin Ferrari damaged in a private test in the days before the event.
The Mercedes of GetSpeed and Motopark and the Porsches of Car Collection shone on the first day of the Test in excellent weather with four hours of track activity.
The best lap time of the day (1.39.819) was posted by the GetSpeed Mercedes of Anthony Bartone-Fabian Schiller in the morning session, shared with the GT Cup Europe cars. In this session, they topped the debuting Car Collection Porsche of Nico Menzel-Gustav Bergström by 0.535.
The German and the Swede were again second in the afternoon session, only 0.123 slower than the Motopark Mercedes #96, which posted the best time of the session in 1.40.213.
Other cars in the top-5 of the two sessions included the other Car Collection Porsche of Hash-Fontana, the GetSpeed Mercedes of Valentin Pierburg-Aaron Walker, the AF Corse Ferrari of Hahn-Khodair and the debuting Good Speed Mercedes of Wira-Arrow.
The only incident worth a mention was an off-track excursion for thee #777 Olimp Racing Audi, which hit the tyre barrier in turn 12, with damage that would be repaired ahead of the second day of testing.
Day 2 saw a whole-morning four hour session in glorious conditions almost every runner improving on their Tuesday times.
At the end of the test, the Mercedes AMG were fastest, with GetSpeed placing its three cars in the top 4. Valentin Pierburg and Aaron Walker posted the best time (1.39.536), only 0.112 ahead of teammates Tom Jackson-Ameerh Naran.
The #65 Motopark AMG was third-fastest (-0.277), with the other GetSpeed car of Anthony Bartone-Fabian Schiller finishing fourth (-0.283) thanks to their Tuesday time.
One of the Car Collection Porsches, (Gustav Bergström-Nico Menzel), managed to squeeze in P5 (-0.486), ahead of two other Motopark cars, #96 and #17, while the Olimp Racing Audi of Marcin Jedlinski-Karol Basz was eighth-fastest.
The GT Open season-opener will take place on the weekend of 28th April at Portimão.
